Life 1984

Chapter 60 This is the taste of your hometown!
The family welcomed Li Yunhai into the main room.

His house is a standard farmhouse with mud bricks, black tiles and walls, wooden doors, wooden windows, wooden floors, wooden pillars, and a pitted dirt floor.The exterior walls are all exposed with yellow adobe bricks, and large-character slogans of this era are painted with lime water along the road.

Mud bricks are made by repeatedly stepping on the soil to form clay. The clay is then placed in a brick mold to make a mud brick that is one foot long, half a foot wide and high, and dried in the sun.

Li Yunhai's house has half a main room, four rooms, plus a kitchen and thatched cottage. This was the ideal layout for a rural house in the 80s.

Why is it said to be half a hall?
Because half of the room belongs to someone else's house, the two families share a common room.

Rural people usually live together in groups, and their houses form a certain scale of building complexes. There are at least a dozen households in them and as many as dozens of households. Walking in is like walking into a maze.A main room is the public inheritance left to the family by the ancestors.

Father Li Deming took his eldest son's hand, walked straight to the shrine in the main room, and said calmly: "Yunhai, you can get ahead and become a national worker, thanks to the blessings of your ancestors, please kowtow three times."

The Li family's shrine is very simple. It is written on red paper, with thirteen characters written on it: "The ancestors of the Li family of this dynasty have examined the spiritual position of their concubines." Some people do not write the two characters "benzong", which means eleven characters.Some people only write five words: "Heaven and Earth, Lord, Prince, Master".

Li Yunhai kowtowed three times and entered the house with his family.

He opened the package, took out the shortbread and candies he bought in the provincial capital, and distributed them to his grandparents and younger brothers and sisters. When he saw a group of children in the village gathered around the door of his house, he waved to them.

The little guys ran in immediately, stretching out their hands.

Li Yunhai grabbed a handful of candies for each of them.

The children shouted happily: "Thank you, Brother Yunhai!"

Li Yunhai took out the clothes he bought for his family and stuffed them into everyone's hands.

The younger brothers and sisters jumped up and down with joy when they saw that they had new clothes for the Chinese New Year.

Mother Zhang Shuwen couldn't help feeling happy and sad at the same time when she saw her son come back after buying so many things. She took Li Yunhai's hand and asked: "Yunhai, where did you get so much money to buy so many things? "

Li Yunhai handed her the clothes he bought for his mother and said, "Mom, I stayed in the provincial capital this month just to make money. I studied radio and know how to repair electrical appliances. This craft is very profitable in the provincial capital. .Mom, your clothes are too patched, please change them! I bought you three sets of clothes!"

Zhang Shuwen took the clothes and looked at them and said: "It's too expensive! Even if you make a few money, don't spend it like this! Save it and use it to find your wife in the future."

Li Yunhai looked at the mud house with four bare walls. Except for the stove pots and basins, wooden tables and bamboo chairs, cupboards and washstands that are necessary for daily life, there was no decent furniture.

Shiban Village is close to the county seat and is not a remote mountainous area. Electricity was available here relatively early, but there was only one wire in the house and a five-watt light bulb installed in each room. Compared with kerosene lamps, it was better than nothing.

As for household appliances, there are none.The only thing with the word "electric" is the old-fashioned flashlight, which uses two large AA batteries, which is convenient for walking at night and going to the latrine outside the house at night.

Li Yunhai originally wanted to save more money and take it home to renovate his family's house. However, all his money was stored in goods. He only had more than 2000 yuan, which would be too little for him to renovate his house.

His family has a large population and the area of ​​the new house is too small to be practical. In his vision, he would have to build at least a row of five houses.In the middle is the main room, with a suite of three bedrooms and two living rooms with a kitchen and bathroom built on each side. Two to three floors are enough.

In rural areas, in the 80s, it cost several thousand yuan to build a brick house with several rooms, which was a huge expense. After all, people earned relatively small wages at that time, and a few thousand yuan was equivalent to Therefore, it is an astronomical figure that most families cannot afford, and therefore cannot renovate old houses.

Li Yunhai has experienced this era, and he probably knows that the cost of building brick houses in this era is not cheap. From laying the homestead to raising the beams and capping, to painting, and installing water and electricity, there is a lot of money to spend.If the red bricks are not fired by oneself, it will cost more.

It also costs 5000 yuan to build a small house.

A big house like the one he dreams of, with better decoration, would cost at least 2 yuan.

Therefore, he will not talk about house renovation for the time being, and will wait until he makes a lot of money.

Li Yunhai knew that there was no good food at home, so when he passed the Yongxing vegetable market in the county town, he paid someone to exchange meat tickets, weighed a few kilograms of meat, and gave it to his mother and eldest sister to cook.

Li Deming asked his son: "When will you go to work at the machinery factory in the county? How much will your salary be?"

Li Yunhai thought for a while and felt that it would be better not to tell his family about his resignation to work in the sea for the time being. His parents would definitely not agree. If he wanted to resign, he would probably have to face many twists and turns.

He had made up his mind to simply resign, burn everything, cut off his own retreat, fight with his last resort, and go into business.

With his ability and level, he can always make a splash in this vast world, right?
Li Yunhai told his father that he would go to work the day after tomorrow and earn 32 yuan a month.

He also said that this month he made more than 2000 yuan doing repairs in the provincial capital.

As he said that, he took out 2000 yuan, put it in his father's hand, and said, "Dad, take it and use it. Buy some furniture, farm tools, electrical appliances, etc. for the family. My younger brothers and sisters will start school soon, and they will also need a lot of tuition and fees." "

The eldest sister is in high school, the third child is in junior high school, and the fourth child will soon be entering junior high school.Fifth sister is the youngest and is in primary school, and has to pay more than 5 yuan in tuition and miscellaneous fees every semester.These tens of dollars in tuition and miscellaneous fees are the biggest expense of the year for the Li family.

Li Deming looked at the 2000 yuan in his hand in shock. He was even more nervous than if he had picked up a golden treasure.

The thickness of 2000 yuan is equivalent to 2 yuan in future generations.

Such a large stack of money, all made up of large pieces of money, is heavy and weighty in your hand!
He asked uneasily: "Yunhai, why do you have so much money? You are outside, you didn't do anything bad, right?"

Li Yunhai smiled and said: "Dad, you still don't know what kind of person I am? Am I the kind of person who can do bad things?" Li Deming asked again and again: "Then where do you get so much money? Repair me You know, there is a pot repairman Peng Dianzi in the county. His family used to be from our village. I heard him say that he only earns 30 to [-] yuan a month! You can make repairs in the provincial capital in a month. Earn two thousand?”

Li Yunhai thought to himself, my biological father!Your son, I earned 25 a month!It's just that all the money is stored in the goods. When I return to the provincial capital and sell these goods, the 25 can be turned into at least 50!
"Dad, all this money is earned by me doing serious repairs. Peng Dianzi makes up the pot. He doesn't have much technical content, so of course he can't make much money. What I repair are all high-tech appliances, like Copiers, typewriters, computers, that kind of thing, so it’s very profitable.”

Li Deming had never even heard of these electrical appliances, so he didn't realize it and asked: "Is it better than repairing TVs?"

In order to appease his parents, Li Yunhai said: "Dad, let me tell you this, you can make [-] cents by fixing a pot, five yuan by repairing a TV set, and I can't say much more by repairing a copy machine. You can also make hundreds of dollars!”

The family members all took a deep breath and were extremely shocked by what Li Yunhai said.

You can earn hundreds by repairing a machine, which is equivalent to a worker's annual income?

Li Yunhai said tentatively: "Dad, this industry is really profitable. I don't want to go to work anymore and go to the provincial capital to do repairs."

Before he finished speaking, his family members objected: "That's not okay! You must not do it!"

Li Deming blushed anxiously and said: "Yunhai! You must not do this! No matter how much money you make as a repairman, you are still self-employed! How can you compare with the national workers? You are the first worker in our village to go to school. You will develop in the future." Well, you can still be a cadre! You are the pride of our Li family, you can’t be self-employed!"

In their opinion, Li Yunhai's monthly salary of 32 yuan is far better than being a self-employed person earning 2000 yuan a month!

In the past long years, the crackdown on speculation and the prohibition of individual private ownership scared the older generation.

Furthermore, no matter how much money a self-employed person makes, it is not as good as being a national worker!

National workers, be more dignified, more impressive, and more popular!

Li Yunhai sighed helplessly and said no more.

In the evening, Li Yunhai called his eldest sister Li Yunfang, took out 100 yuan and put it in her hand, saying: "When you grow up, this money is given to you by my brother. You usually have to buy personal items such as menstrual belts. In high school, I also need to buy a lot of extracurricular books, just hold the flowers and I will send them to you when you finish spending them."

In all her life, Li Yunfang saw so much money for the first time, and heard such kind concern for the first time. She was happy and touched, and said with a red face: "Brother, I can't use so much money. "

Li Yunhai smiled and said: "You still think you have too much money? Just keep the extra money as pocket money!"

Li Yunfang was so excited that her eyes welled up with tears. She carefully divided the money into three parts and hid them separately.

The other three siblings were still young, so Li Yunhai didn't give them much pocket money. He gave them ten yuan each, which made them happy for a long time.

Li Yunhai didn't have the habit of sleeping in, so he woke up very early the next day.

He walked around the family homestead twice, thinking about how to build a new house in the future.

When he had free time, he called on his younger brothers and sisters to help with household chores, carrying water, chopping firewood, and helping in vegetable fields and farmland.

After a busy day, Li Yunhai was so tired that he was sweating profusely.

In the evening, he took a bucket, filled with towels and soap, and went to the well to take a bath.

There are three wells, each with its own purpose. The top well is for drinking water, the middle well is for washing vegetables, and the bottom well is for washing sundries.

Li Yunhai fetched water from a bucket and went to the side to take a shower.

He lifted a large bucket of water and poured it over his head. It was refreshing and cool!

Li Yunhai wiped the water droplets from his face, opened his eyes, and suddenly saw a familiar face in front of him.

He thought he was being deceived, so he wiped some water on his face, opened his eyes wide, and shouted, "Miss Lin! Why are you here?"

Isn't the person standing in front of him none other than Lin Zhi?

Lin Zhi was wearing a white dress that was longer than her knees. She was graceful and slim. She was looking at Li Yunhai, who was all muscular, and was smiling with her lips pursed!

Li Yunhai used a towel to cover his key parts and said with an awkward smile, "Aren't you going to work?"

Lin Zhi tilted her head and smiled sweetly: "I came here specifically to ask for leave! Do you want to entertain me well?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath: "This is the smell of your hometown. It's very fresh and smells good. I seem to have smelled the fragrance of jujube flowers!"

Li Yunhai shattered her fantasy with just one sentence: "The dates have already borne fruit and can be picked and eaten. What you smell is the aroma of soap on my body!"

"..."

(End of this chapter)